The Grove was quiet at dawn.
Mist curled around the roots. The air was still, but the silence wasn't peaceful—it was expectant.
Tamura stood at the edge, arms crossed, eyes hollow.
Mugen adjusted his gear, wondering if now would be the time for a joke. He could sense the shift in his brother's energy. More than that he was recognizing Tamura for the threat he truly was. Learning how to sense chi, he could sense Tamura had even more than Vayrik.
Vayrik approached, cloak drawn tight, jaw clenched.
"We're not going through the Deadlands," he said.
"There's another way."
Tamura raised an eyebrow.
"You've been holding out on us?"
Vayrik didn't smile.
"It's not a path. It's a pad. A warp pad. And... I wasn't sure the others could handle it. But with just you two, I'm less worried."
Tamura frowned.
"Those are real?"
"Rare. Dangerous. Forgotten by most. Xathia built them a century ago, back when the beastmen were still under our reign. Spacial magic stored inside of it. It bends distance, but it doesn't come free."
Mugen's voice was low.
"What's the cost?"
Vayrik looked at them both.
"Mana. It drains you based on how far you travel."
Tamura nodded.
"A little fatigue sounds like a delight compared to that shit we had to go against in the Deadlands."
---
Deep within the Grove, beneath a collapsed shrine overgrown with vines and moss, lay the pad.
It shimmered faintly, etched with runes that pulsed in unnatural rhythm. The glyphs were old, and seemed untouched for decades.
Tamura stepped closer, feeling the pull in his chest. His mark flared once, then dimmed.
"It's hungry."
Vayrik knelt, pressed his palm to the center.
The glyphs flared blue, then yellow, then vanished.
"It'll send us near Xathia. But it's unstable. No control over exact location. And once it activates, there is no stopping it."
Mugen stepped onto the pad.
"Let's go."
Tamura followed.
Vayrik joined them.
The pad activated.
Reality bent.
Their mana drained instantly, like their souls were being wrung dry.
Tamura gasped.
Mugen staggered.
Vayrik didn't flinch.
Then...
They vanished.
---
They landed hard. Arriving outside of Xathia's main gate.
Stone beneath them. Air thick. Heat rising.
Tamura dropped to one knee, breath ragged. His mark flickered weakly.
Mugen leaned against Vayrik, his shadows were barely responding.
Vayrik stood, but his aura was dim.
The warp pad had done its job.
They were near Xathia's outer walls, closer than expected. But something was wrong.
The sky above the kingdom glowed crimson.
Not a sunrise. It was a warning.
Screams echoed from within.
Tamura called on the little mana he had left.
"No rest, huh?"
Vayrik's eyes narrowed.
"Something's wrong."
They ran straight for the light.
---
As they entered the residential district, the glow intensified.
Windows shattered.
Streets cracked.
The ground shook intensely.
In the center of the chaos, a portal had torn open, jagged, unstable, bleeding red light. It hovered above the cobblestone like a wound in reality.
From within the portal...demons.
Mindless.
Ravenous.
Extremely high and unstable amounts of mana.
They tore through homes, clawed at walls, devoured anything that moved. Their bodies were malformed, twisted by the unstable mana, their eyes glowing with hunger.
Tamura didn't hesitate.
He charged in with a smile. He had been holding on to the feeling of betrayal and abandonment from his squad falling apart.
"Finally, I can let off some steam!"
---
Tamura slaughtered at least twenty demons all with mana levels equal to a high level mage.
He was excited. He hadn't felt this good in years.
But of course his fun had to come to an end. He paved his way to the guild hall. There he saw her again.
Nekeya.
Bloodied. Breathing hard. Her arm hung limp, shoulder torn. Her flame flickered erratically, more instinct than control.
But she fought.
Her flame danced, precise, desperate, defiant.
Behind her, guild members huddled, shielding children, wounded. The courtyard was littered with broken seals and shattered lanterns.
A demon lunged.
Tamura intercepted, his hand cleaving through its chest.
She turned.
Eyes wide.
"Tamura?"
He looked at her with a mix between desire and relief.
"Why is it that every time you're without me...you always manage to find trouble."
She collapsed to one knee.
"Portal opened an hour ago. I didn't know my kind could come to other planes."
Mugen joined them, he wasn't his usual joking self.
"We'll hold the line. Stay with the kids and any other innocents you come across."
---
Vayrik took command instantly.
"Mugen, work on containing the portal. Tamura protect Nekeya while she heals. I'll rally survivors."
The team moved like it was second nature.
Tamura fought beside Nekeya, their blades syncing. Her flame wrapped around his strikes, amplifying them. His mark flared brighter near her—like it recognized her heat.
Mugen circled the portal, sensing its instability.
This isn't any magic I've ever seen. It's something older. Something broken.
He called on his chi, trying to replenish and amplify his mana like Zafira taught him.
The portal responded. It pulsed.
He pushed harder. It screamed.
---
The demons kept coming.
Tamura took a hit, shoulder gouged, blood soaking his sleeve.
Nekeya fell again, her flame started sputtering.
Mugen's aura flared, his chi clashing with the portal's energy. He didn't cast. He channeled. His body moved with precision, his breath syncing with the pulse of the portal.
Vayrik dragged survivors to safety, cloak torn, blade flashing.
The team was back.
But barely.
Tamura looked at Nekeya.
"I'm not losing anyone else."
She smiled weakly.
"Then, let's fight like hell."
Their energy shifted when Tamura sensed something else away from the portal. It was weak but he could tell it was enough to scare even these demons.
---
The portal pulsed behind him, but Tamura's mark flared in a different direction, south. Not toward the chaos. Away from it.
He turned.
Something had moved.
Fast.
Too fast for him to track properly.
Not a demon. Whatever it was didn't move mindlessly. It was trying to not be noticed.
Something else was among the guild.
Tamura sprinted, ignoring the pain in his shoulder, the blood soaking his sleeve. His mark guided him, flickering violet and then crimson.
He reached the rooftops of the southern district, leaping across tiles, breath sharp.
Then he saw him.
A boy.
No older than 12 or 13. Maybe 14. His clothes were torn. Skin bruised. Eyes hollow.
He stood on the edge of the roof, staring at the horizon like it had betrayed him.
Tamura slowed.
The boy didn't move.
His aura was faint, but wrong. Not demonic. Tamura only sensed something like this with Vayrik and again with Urdek. Whoever this boy was, he was just as if not more dangerous than those two.
Tamura stepped closer.
"Hey. You okay? Look kid it's dangerous for kids to be playing out here at the moment."
The boy didn't answer.
Tamura lowered his guard.
"You're not one of them. You came through the portal, but you're not like the others."
The boy twitched.
Tamura saw it then...his hands were trembling. Not from fear.
From containment. The boy was free.
Lightning sparked around his fingers, crawling up his arms and tracking his veins.
His eyes began to glow.
Yellow.
Bright.
Tamura's mark flared in warning.
"Wait a minute. Let's not get violent just yet."
The boy growled.
It was like any animal Tamura ever heard.
And then...
He moved.
Faster than thought.
Tamura barely blinked.
And the boy was already in front of him. He was aiming to end Tamura in one move.
Tamura didn't raise his hand.
He didn't speak.
He just felt it.
Something that was broken in this boy.
---